Should You Use Index Funds or ETFs?
[Note: A more up-to-date discussion of this idea, including a spreadsheet to help you with the math, can be found here.] This week I got an email from a reader who is in the process of firing her advi [...]
Not All Indexes Are Created Equal
The recently launched BMO Equal Weight REITs (ZRE), which invests in Canadian real estate investment trusts, will go head-to-head with the iShares S&P/TSX Capped REIT (XRE), which until now had n [...]
Build Your Own Pension-Fund Portfolio
It’s always interesting to know what the smart money is doing. And I’m not talking about the investment managers who appear on BNN to “talk their book” — like the guy who runs the precious metals fund [...]
Tips for Trading ETFs
I happened to have Google Finance open on my computer last week when the “flash crash” happened. While the market's whipsaw on May 6 affected almost all stocks, it seems that ETFs were particularly ha [...]
Indexing’s Dirty Little Secret
“Most actively managed mutual funds underperform the market.” Couch Potato investors sing this refrain all the time in defense of ETFs and index funds. I’ve done it many times myself — a bit smugly, I [...]
International Tracking Error: Part 3
In this final post in the series on why international index funds performed so poorly in 2009, it’s time to look at currency hedging. Currency hedging is a strategy designed to smooth out the fluctuat [...]
International Tracking Error: Part 2
International index funds and ETFs showed large tracking errors in 2009. In my first post on this topic, I explained how the time differences between North American and overseas markets can make it ap [...]
International Tracking Error: Part 1
Many international equity ETFs showed large tracking errors in 2009. For example, the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (XIN), which tracks European and Japanese stocks, trailed its benchmark index by 5.34 [...]
Review: Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes
To be successful with money, it’s not enough to have a good strategy. You also need to avoid the emotional and psychological traps that snare so many investors. Gary Belsky and Thomas Gilovich examine [...]
Bonds v. Bond Funds
In my previous post, I looked at the uneasiness many investors have about bonds when interest rates are poised to go up. Some readers have argued that this discomfort can be alleviated by buying indiv [...]
